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There are many different ways to seek new opportunities but all of them will fall into one of two categories: to pursue or to be pursued. A job seeker that is pursuing is the person that is out beating the bushes looking for the next opportunity.

The pursuers are targeting employers, sending resumes, filling out applications, searching job boards, networking and making contacts, responding to want ads, etc. They are working to find that next opportunity.

The Pursued

The second category are the pursued. Those are people like Lee Iaccoca in the 1980s, when Chrysler was looking for someone to save the company. Iaccoca’s performance record with Ford made him not only a logical, but a great choice. Iaccoca was the father of the Mustang and that innovative mind was just what Chrysler needed; a person with talent and vision. Iaccoca was pursued by Chrysler.

This is what today’s job seeker should be looking to accomplish with their career.

What have you done in your past that you can do in your future to make people seek you?

How are you presenting your skills and abilities?

The pursued have a brand and a reputation that is known by some or even many. The more that know your brand the greater your appeal and the greater your opportunities.

Develop Your Brand

Success requires that you develop, build, and promote your brand. Do you have a brand? What is your brand? How can you promote your brand?

These are important questions that you must be able to answer and then act upon. What can you do to establish your expertise and gain the visibility necessary to promote your brand?

Developing your brand requires that you have visibility. In the past this was often difficult to accomplish. There were limited places where you could promote and there was tremendous competition to get your information placed. Today that has all changed.

With the advent of Social Networking. Blogs, and other Internet capabilities; you can get your word out. There are numerous outlets (magazines, ezines, blogs, websites, etc.) where you can gain tremendous visibility and credibility. These outlets suffer constantly from the lack of quality information and ideas. They are experiencing increasing competition for materials and therefore they are always looking for new material and differing perspectives. If you want to get the recognition; the possibilities are unlimited.

Are you pursuing or being pursued? Most job seekers fall into the category of pursuing; what can you do to change yourself from pursuing to being pursued?

In Commercial Real Estate the answer to the age old question of the three most important things is: location, location, location. You can say the same thing about your resume. As such you do not want to waste the top of your resume; which includes your Career Highlights.

Your Career Highlights Are Just That Highlights!

Career Highlights are those accomplishments that speak to recruiters and hiring managers and say: I did this for them and I can do comparable for YOU! Career Highlights are not about you; rather they are about what you can do for your new employer. They are about the reader!

As with your entire resume your career highlights are a sales process that must convey to the reader:

Why they would be foolish not to talk to you.

Why they must read your entire resume.

Why they cannot disregard you for the position.

The highlights of what you have accomplished in your career thus far.

What the new employer can expect of you after you have been hired.

All of this communication is accomplished by the use of Situation, Action, and Results statements.

Think of Julius Caesar when you construct this section. Caesar was never shy or reluctant to boast about his accomplishments.

He encapsulated that perfectly when he said Veni, Vidi, Vici! I came, I saw, I conquered. That is exactly what you must tell your recruiter and hiring manager. Ideally there should be three to six of these conquering statements with no more than two from a single employment experience.

Follow the Advice of Marshall Goldsmith

A couple of years ago Marshall Goldsmith, he is a career coach to high-level executives, wrote the book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. In his book Goldsmith says that as your career progresses your skills must progress as well. The skills that got you noticed are not the same skills that you will need to succeed in your new position.

Your ability to be recognized in the subsequent position and the skills you will use are not be the skills you will need as you continue to move up. Understanding the requirements at the lower levels is critical; but you are no longer the one performing those tasks; you are now managing the performers.

Throughout your career you must evolve or you cannot move forward. When you are writing your career highlights remember that you are an evolving being and that your highlights must show that as your career progressed.

Your highlights must reflect your growth. You should encompass and showcase the new skills you have acquired to demonstrate your understanding that your role has changed. Your early highlights will be in the capacity of the “doer”; your middle highlights should demonstrate your skills as a manager; and your later highlights should demonstrate your skills as a leader.

Making your highlights section speak to the reader is critical to getting that interview you desire.

Copyright Tom Staskiewicz

“Who Knows You?” and “Are You Attracting the Attention You Want?” Understanding the function of career highlights is key to building your brand.